The present invention is directed to an enossal implant, which is also known as an endosteal or endosseous implant. The implant of the present invention has a basic structure which is implanted in a jaw of the patient and threadably receives a spacer sleeve or element which, in turn, receives a metal implant post having fastening means for receiving an individual tooth, which is a snugly fitting, conditionally removable denture.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,793,808, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference thereto and which corresponds to European Published Application 0 216 031, discloses an enossal implant which has proven satisfactory in practice. However, when used as an individual tooth implant, difficulties are encountered in that it is not possible to reliably secure the denture against turning or twisting relative to the base structure unless the individual parts of the implant and the denture are bonded together. Such bonding leads to problems, for example in the case of a subsequent replacement of the denture or when the implant has possible become damaged due to breakage.